love it, I'd love it

[Donnybob]

As one of Saunders' biggest critics I have to say I am not aware that he was over-critical of SOD when he arrived, his own self-indulgence got in the way of anything like that. The pricipal criticism of SOD came from John Ryan. These are the highlights from my favourite Saunders Soundbites:

"I’m so excited by this challenge

There are all sorts of things wrong with the club that I can put right

I know what is needed with the team. I know what our faults are

I know I can get a winning team on the pitch

We have got nothing to fear in this league. We have matched every team we have played

I hadn’t gone 19 games without a win so my mind was quite clear and I was positive about winning. That’s why sometimes a new manager has an effect on players

I don’t have to be scrambling around like a lunatic trying to get loads of players in, I can have a look at what we’ve got and obviously winning stops the panic

My job is to change the personnel and get people in who can do their jobs properly at this level. There are players at this club who have scars from losing so many games

Following a big and extensive recruitment drive, Saunders now believes Rovers have a plethora of potential match winners in their side

I think Billy will be staying with us until the end of the season - at least I am hoping he will. He’s not going to any of the clubs who have come in for him at the moment

I’m confident we can go anywhere and get a result

We have to make the Keepmoat more of a fortress. It is something we are working on and luckily we have got a lot of games left in the season to put it right

We are four points behind with a game in hand; it is a miles better position than we were in six months ago (conveniently ignoring we were out of the bottom 3 after just 4 games under Saunders)

I believe we can bounce back and, normally, you would get a reaction to a defeat and I believe that’s what will happen here

Looking back we should have won the last nine games

We will win games but only if they have the drive and determination and if they had packed in I would have been worried but they didn’t so we are getting there

We are in desperate trouble at the bottom of the league and if I can get them in and we can get out of the trouble we are in, and then they move on, that’s all I’m concerned about; not getting relegated

We have got a problem; we are in a relegation battle. Perhaps those results papered over the cracks

We have got eight games left and if we won them all, we would end up with 50 odd points. There is no reason why we can’t win them all

Seven points is retrievable; we have games in hand. We’ve got to win games; it’s as simple as that

If we pick up three points on Saturday it is better than two draws

I quite enjoy being under pressure. There is nothing worse than just floating half way up the league

We need to win six of our last games if we’re going to stay up. We could have been halfway up the table if we’d had a bit of luck

I can’t keep going over the same things with the same players. In the end you have to do something about it as a manager

If I was a Rovers fan, I would be devastated - but all is not lost. Have a look at the table and you can see we can still do it.

If we win all our remaining games that gives us 15 points and who is to say the teams above us are going to win?

We have hit a bad run of results at the wrong time

It is not easy to keep morale up but that’s my job. I have to use my experience and get us over the finishing line

If you don’t score in the Championship, you end up in League One eventually

If we keep defending like that, we will be in League One

I don’t want to get into trouble with the referees, and I don’t normally criticise them

I thought nearly every decision went against us

It sounds like I am making excuses

This is a challenge and we have to keep going. I know what I need to. I have not been able to do it so far

I’m learning in this job all the time, learning something every week and, for a start, it’s about getting our house in order

Sometimes if you have to take a step back to go forward, that’s what you have to do. Unless I get my hands tied behind my back where I can’t do what I want to do, I will be ready and looking forward to pre-season."

No real attacks on SOD in there then. Just the usual bullsh*t about it being everyone elses fault bar his own.

[DonnyNoel]

Whilst they aren't in our division I don't see there's anything wrong with wishing old favourites well and keeping an eye out for results but I certainly don't buy into this "second team" mentality.

Growing up watching Rovers in the 80's and 90's players came and went frequently often without achieveing much individually and even less collectively. The last decade however was a true golden age in terms of growth and success (I don't see why we have to wait 40+ years before we call something great or legendary etc) and as such its put a lot of people close to our footballing hearts so its only natural that some people retain an interest. I'll look out for SODs results in the same way I looked out for Penney's and I'll check if Copps, Billy and Greeny played in the same way I used to check up on Blundell, McIndoe and Doolan when they left although there's no room for a second team for me! And its not from a "told you so wish we'd have kept them" point of view but simply because they did well for DRFC.

[mushRTID]

f**king hell, bet you have a little notepad you carry around in case you hear him on the radio. Pretty sad.

[mjg]

hope they go down